Cyrus takes Babylon

Babylon

Introduction

In October 539 BCE, the Persian king
Cyrus
took Babylon,
the ancient capital of an oriental empire
covering modern Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. In a broader sense,
Babylon
was the ancient world's capital of scholarship and science. The subject
provinces soon recognized Cyrus as their legitimate ruler. Since he was
already lord of peripheral regions in modern Turkey and Iran (and
Afghanistan?),
it is not exaggerated to say that the conquest of Babylonia
meant the birth of a true world empire. The Achaemenid
empire was to last for more than two centuries, until it was
divided
by the successors of the Macedonian
king Alexander
the Great. A remarkable aspect of the capture of Babylon is
the fact
that Cyrus allowed the Jews (who were exiled in Babylonia) to return
home.

Cyrus' cylinder (British
Museum)

Several texts describe this
event, and they are
all collected on these pages. Here they are, including brief summaries.

The Chronicle
of Nabonidusgives contemporary
information about the rise
of Cyrus
and
the erratic behavior of the Babylonian king Nabonidus,
who leaves Babylon and spends several years in the oasis Temâ
in Arabia.
His son Bêlsharusur (the biblical Belshazzar) acts as regent
but
is unable to ward off the approaching Persian danger. Finally,
Nabonidus
returns and fights. But it is in vain; Cyrus is welcomed as
representative
of the supreme god.

The Verse
account of Nabonidusis a poem by one of the
priests of the Esagila,
the temple of the Babylonian supreme god Marduk. It shows that the
religious
establishment of Babylon was upset because the important New Year's
festival
(Akitu)
had not been celebrated in Nabonidus' absence. The author of this libel
does little to hide his contempt for the impious madman.

The
Biblical prophet
Danieltells about the madness
of another king of Babylonia, Nebuchadnezzar.
There are several details in this story that make it plausible that the
original story was about Nabonidus. Reconstruction of this original is
possible through comparison with the text known as the Prayer
of Nabonidus.

The Cyrus
Cylinderpresents the new king as
the one chosen by the
supreme god to liberate Babylon from tyranny. We may speculate that
Cyrus
considered himself to be on a divine mission under guidance of Ahuramazda,
and we can assume that the Babylonian clerk who wrote down this text
changed
this into Marduk, the name of his own supreme god. Cyrus also boasts
that
he has liberated many people who were exiled to Babylon.

The
Biblical prophet
Isaiah(or Second Isaiah, to be
precise) tells more
or less the same story as the Cyrus Cylinder. Again, tthe Persian ruler
is chosen by a supreme god (the God of the Jews, this time) and after
winning
a victory, Cyrus allows the Jews to go back home.

The
Biblical prophet
Ezraquotes us the probably
authentic text of Cyrus'
decree on the exiled Jews.

The
Greek researcher Herodotusfinally, has a very
unreliable story about the
Fall of Babylon.